Wigmaking machine



Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAL JD WIGMAKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 2'7, 1952 a T ww Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAUD WIGMAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledFeb. 27, 1952 INVEITQR Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAUD WIGMAKING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 27, 1952' fit wz/ $70400, I N V EN TOR.

Patented Sept. 21, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIGMAKING MACHINEHenri Gerbaud, New York, N. Y.

Application February 27, 1952, Serial No. 273,634

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine for the makin of wigs.

The principal object of this invention is to pro-. vide a novel andimproved wig-making machine holding a supply or bunch of hairs orhair-like filaments into which a plurality or just one reciprocatinghook-needle enters after having pierced the wig foundation member fromthe underside of the latter and lies therethroug-h in the hole it hasmade. Said hook-needle then draws one or more hairs from the supplybunch and pulls same a comparatively short distance through saidfoundation member to imbed the hair through the hole it has made, andparticularly to provide means for automatically removing the worked haircompletely from the supply bunch before the hook-needle makes its next"stitch in order to avoid tangling and the occurrence of more than oneWorking of any hair once so embedded as well as to obviate the necessityto separate the hairs of the completed wig.

Another object hereof is to provide a novel and improved machine. of thecharacter described, for making a head of hair on a. dolls head which isa hollow shell of a material capable of being pierced by a needle.

A further object hereof is to make such improved machine by providingattachments to available machinery.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improvedwig-making machine of the nature set forth, which requires no manualoperation to remove worked hair from the supply bunch, which is easy tooperate and efficient in carrying out the purposes for which it isdesigned.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosureproceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, similarcharacters of reference indicate correspondin parts in all the views.

Fig. 1 shows the front view of a machine embodying the teachings of thisinvention. A needle-pierceable shell in the form of a dolls head, isshown in position on the machine, ready to be given" a head of hair, aswill be explained.

Fig. 2 is a section taken at lines 2-2 in Fig. 1. This view issubstantially a side elevation of this machine as seen from the left inFig. 1.

Figs. 3 through 6 are diagrammatic and show successive stages ofoperation during one cycle of movement of the hook-needle.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the component included in the machineshown in Fig. 1, whose function it is to remove entirely from the hair 2supply bunch, those hairs engaged by the hookneedle which pulls themonly part way.

Fig. 8 is diagrammatic and shows as will be explained, that said partillustrated in Fig. 7, really operates as a moving hook which in itsmovement, pulls the worked hair from the supply bunch. This view showsonly a fragment of said mentioned part.

Fig. 9 shows a modified form of structure to take the place of the partshown in Fig. 7. The view here shown is diagrammatic, in the sense thatit shows only relative position of several elements. lJ-he showing hereis in perspective.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, showing another modified structurefor the same purpose.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of the work rest and thepressure foot for holding the work thereon, which are included in theembodiment illustrated.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a plurality ofsimultaneously operating needles pierced through a portion of the shellof a dolls head.

In the drawings, to illustrate the practice of this invention, I havetaken a sewing machine commonly used in the luggage industry and havemade attachments thereto. I do not use the machine to sew, and for thepurpose I need, I use a hook needle [5, which in the machine 16 chosen,extends upwardly from the rec-iprocable needle bar I! mounted for suchmovement on the arm I8. The main shaft of this known machine, is denotedby the numeral I9. I have extended this shaft outward of the machineframe It and have mounted a gear 2!! on said shaft. The machine chosenincludes known mechanism to impart needle movement and to feed the workto next stitch. In fact in the said machine such Work-feed functions bymeans driven by the main shaft to swing the arm I 8 a predetermined bitduring a prescribed phase of the cycle of movement of the needle bar H.For my purpose, any other work-feeding means may be employed as is wellknown in the sewing machine art. The work '22 is on a fixed work restbar 2| which is provided with a suitable slot 23 to permit the requiredneedle movements. The work in wig making, may be any sheet material usedfor wig foundations in which hair is implanted, or as illustratedherein, may be a hollow shell forming a dolls head made ofneedle-pierceable material as for instance a soft rubber-like plastic.Initially,,of course, said head 22 is bare, and as will now be setforth, will be given a "head of hair.

I have provided an elongated tray 24 with out ward longitudinal flanges24, so that it can be slid onto and be removably positioned on its fixedholding-bracket 25 which has the opposite grooves 25 to receive suchflanges of the tray. The said tray is filled with a supply of straight,loose, separate hairs 26 laid longitudinally therein; the length of saidhairs being very slightly less than the inside length of said tray. Atmidpoint, the floor of the tray has a hole 21 for the needle hook IE topass through, into and out of the supply of" hairs 26 held in such tray.The needle, in its movement, catches one or more hairs at their midregion, and upon downward movement, the caught hairs 30 are pulled partway through the trays floor thI'Ollgh said hole 21, forming a fold orbight 3D in said caught hairs. This bight, upon further-downwardmovementof the hook needle 55, is passed through the work in the hole in saidwork left by said'needle, as is finally shown in Fig. 6.

I alsoprovide a' hook means to engage the hair strands near the bightitherein; such hook means in its'movement causing total withdrawal of theengaged hair from out of the supply tray .23. One embodiment of suchhook means shown in Figs. 1 through 8, comprises the tubular member 33whichis journalled for rotary axial movement in the bracket bearings 34and 35 fixed on' the machinesframe i4. Fixed on said tubular member 33is a ring gear 32. The gears 32 and 26 are identical as to number ofteeth and are in engagement with each other as shown, to give saidtubular member 33 proper direction of rotation in relation to that ofthe main shaft IS.

The presser foot 33, instead of being on a usual straight bar, is hereat the end of a bar 3? which is bent to clear the tubular member 33.

The tubular member 33, which will be shown acts as a hook, is providedfor such purpose with an. opening 33 for the hook needle IE to passthrough. The main shaft i9 is chosen for driving the hook member 33,because it is necessary that for each reciprocation of the said hookneedle I5, which is effected by one revolution of saidshaft i9, the hookmember 33 shall revolve once. The length of said opening 33 is such thatit is suflicient to clear the needle while said member 33 is rotating,during needle movement.

The operator stands facing the machine in Fig. 1. This will place himfacing the machine at the right in Fig. 2. The direction of rotation ofthe hook member 33, facing the operator, is downwardly towards the rearof the machine. The work is fed by the feeding device, rearwardly away.from the operator, who holds the work to feed it laterally for anadjacent line of stitches. For a feeding device, see for instance theMerrickiPatent No. 940,854 of January 31, 1893. The machine of this typeis ordinarily equipped with the usual pedals, one to operate themachine, and the other to work the presser foot. These pedals are notshown. The member 33 is so mounted, that when the hook needle in itsupward movement approaches said member 33, said needle enters theopening 38 near edge 38", and in its downward movement, said needleleaves said opening near the bight-hooking edge 38. The diameter of saidhook member 33 is. made sufficiently large that its circumference minusthe length of the slot 38, exceeds one half the length of the hairs inthe tray 24 to such an extent that the. entire hairs hooked and pulledon by the hook-needle I5 shall be removed from the tray 24 by saidmember 33.

To. set the machinefor operation, the hand wheel 40 is turned until thehook needle I5 is at its lowest position as shown in Fig. 1. At suchposition, said needle is below the work rest 2|. The presser foot rod 31is lifted and a piece of work as any suitable wig foundation or thedolls head shell 22 is placed between said rest 2| and the presser foot36. The presser foot rod is then released whereupon it holds the work onthe rest member 2 l. The tray 24 having been filled with a supply of;hair, fine silk. orthreadyarnsor other suitable filaments, the machineis operated. The hook needle it: will rise and pierce the work 22 makinga hole therethrough, and pass up through the opening 38 in the revolvingmember 33, then through the hole 2'! into the mass of hairs 26 as shownin Fig. 3.

Now on downward movement of said hook needle i5, it will catch one ormore hairs depending upon its hook size, and pull same by theirmid-region through the hole 21' in the floor of the tray 22, forming abight 30' in such caught hairs 3!] as is shown in Fig. 4, and thence outthrough the opening 38; Edge '38 of said opening 38, will engage thestrands of bight 30 after the hook needle 15 has left opening 38, anddue to the movement of the member 33, said caught hairs 30 will beentirely pulled out of the tray as is shown by the steps illustrated inthe-Figs..5 and 6. The line-of movement of the: needle is in a planewhich passes through all thefilaments in the holder 24, intermediatetheir ends. The needle hook in its continued downward movement will pullthe bight of the caught hair 30 through the hole in the work made by theneedle as is shown in Fig. 6. The-action of the swing of the member i3commencing at the condition shown in Fig. 5, will cause the work to beshifted to next stitch position, and soonafter the needle it reaches theposition shown in Fig. 6, such swing movement of the member it, willcause the hook needle to release its hold on the hairs it has caught andimbedded in the work. The needle is now again in its lowest position asin Fig. 1 and is ready to repeat the operation at the new stitchposition to which the work 22 has been shifted. Imbedded hairs as M and52' will fall or are manually pushed down oil member 33. The operationis repeated until the whole area required'is haired. 7

That in reality the action of member 33'isthat of a hook, can readily beseen in the segmental showing in Fig. 8. Regardless of the direction ofrotation of such hook, it functions to remove entirely from the tray 24,those hairs caughtby the needle hook 15. A particular direction for suchrotation is advantageous in that the hairs withdrawn from the tray arekept away from work region.

Instead of the member 33, a Wheel 42 may be mounted on the machine framebeyond the left hand side of the tray, and through suitable gearing,said wheel shall be driven by the main shaft [9. This wheel carries ahook 43 on a longitudinally extending shank parallel and away from theaxis 45. The distance from such shank 45 to the axis 44 should besufilcient to accomplish complete removal of the caught hairs from thetray 24 upon rotation of the wheel 42. This is shown in Fig. 9.

The same function can be accomplished by having a hook ill on ahorizontal shank t8 which extends laterally from a vertical shaft 49driven by suitable gearing (not shown) by the main shaft Hi.

If desired, more than one needle of thetype l5 may be used to plant hairthrough several spaced holes in the work 22 simultaneously. Sucharrangement is indicated in Fig. 12, where four needles l5 are intendedto be carried on one needle post. Of course in such instancecorresponding holes would need be provided in the floor of the hair tray24 and corresponding openings in the member 33. No further details ofthis or other suggestions herein need be given, because such adaptationsare easily known without any further explanation to those versed in themachine art.

All curved arrows in the drawings, indicate direction of rotation ofrespective adjacent components shown.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applicationswithout departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It istherefore intended and desired that the embodiments herein describedshall be deemed illustrative and not restrictive and that the patentshall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being hadto the following claims rather than to the specific description hereinto indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a wig-making machine of the character described, a membersupporting a wig foundation, a supply of separate filaments in a holderadjacent said supporting member; said wig foundation being between saidmember and holder, a reciprocatable hook needle positioned for movementfirst in a direction towards said holder, through the wig foundation topierce the same and thence into said holder and then in reversedirection to withdraw from said holder with filaments caught by it andto be out of said wig foundation with a portion of said caught filamentspulled through said wig foundation a comparatively short distance; aportion of said caught filaments still remaining in said holder; theline of needle movement being in a plane which passes through all thefilaments in the holder intermediate their ends, a member movable in apath between the said holder and the wig foundation across the path ofthe needle and clear of the needle, in every instance said needle hasleft the holder; said movable member in motion, being adapted tocompletely pull out of said holder, the remaining portions of allfilaments caught by the needle.

2. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1,

wherein the filaments are so positioned in the holder that the mentionedplane passes through their mid-regions whereby said filaments are caughtby the hook needle at substantially their mid-regions.

3. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movablemember for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder hasa. rotary motion.

4. A wig-making machine as defined. in claim 1, wherein the movablemember for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder has arotary motion around the holder and the supply of filaments it carries.

5. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movablemember for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder has arotary motion in a plane adjacentthe holder which plane is substantiallyperpendicular to the needle.

6. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movablemember for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder is ahook adapted to intercept the filaments caught by the needle.

'7. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the holder is atray having a hole in its wall through which the needle passes therein,the said hole being of a size permitting the needle and the filamentscaught thereon to pass through upon movement of said needle out of saidtray.

8. A Wig-making machine as defined in claim 7, wherein the movablemember for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the tray is atubular member positioned about said tray and axially rotatably mountedon the machine, said tubular member having a slot around part of itsperipheral surface through which the needle may pass into and out fromthe tray, the caught filaments being intercepted by an end of said slot,whereby on continued rotary movement of said tubular member, said caughtfilaments are entirely withdrawn from the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,186,534 Aldworth June 13, 1916 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 559,373 France June 14, 1923

